Second approach on runway proposal for the Cuyahoga County Airport: Sun News editorial

Three years ago, officials at the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights trotted out a proposal to extend the main runway by 900 feet, making the runway more than a mile in length. It would have brought more traffic to the airport, which in turn would have created more noise, something neighboring residents fiercely opposed.

Residents were up in arms about the proposal and complained loudly to airport officials, county leadership and the Federal Aviation Administration. Those complaints were not made in vain, as the Cuyahoga County Commissioners voted in 2010 not to support the runway expansion project and the proposal was grounded.

The need for a longer runway is still there, however, and airport officials are now hoping a 400-foot expansion of the runway will fly with residents of Richmond Heights, Highland Heights and Willoughby Hills. In conjunction with the longer runway, buffer areas on all sides of the runway would be improved. An environmental assessment of the project is underway, paid for through an FAA grant, and should be completed in the summer of 2014.

The 2010 runway project would have necessitated the reconfiguration of Richmond Road, Bishop Road or both, closing those roads to all traffic for an extended period of time. This time, some of the seven options for the smaller runway expansion recommend realigning the two roads, but there are also options in which neither road would be affected by the longer runway. A runway expansion would be more palatable to the community if it did not affect the two main north-south arteries that link the three suburbs.

More important for residents, though, is the noise factor. If noise levels are going to increase as a result of this project, residents will do all they can to make sure it doesn’t get off the ground. In the wake of the 2010 proposal, a noise monitoring committee was formed with representation from all three surrounding suburbs, allowing residents to register noise complaints more efficiently and hold the airport more accountable for any decibel level increases. That is why the environmental assessment is so important — it will help airport officials determine whether the project can be accomplished without increasing decibel levels for the surrounding community.

While the assessment is taking place, airport officials have planned two open houses and a public forum on the project. The first open house is scheduled for 3:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 at the airport. There will be no formal presentation given on the runway project, but those who attend can get an idea of what exactly is being proposed. The second open house will be held in the fall and the public forum, which would include a formal presentation on the project, is slated to be held in spring 2014.

It behooves residents to attend next week’s open house and get an idea of what airport officials are proposing. In our view, this proposal should be able to provide the longer runway needed at the airport without disturbing the existing Bishop and Richmond roads and without generating extra noise to disturb the residents who live in the vicinity of the airport. However, the residents who will be most affected by this proposal need to be educated on exactly what is being proposed, and the best way to do that is to attend all meetings on the project. Residential input and outcry three years ago made a huge difference in the airport’s plans, and community feedback will once again be critical to the future of this project.

That’s what we think. Share your opinion on this editorial or other topics by sending a letter to the editor to rjablonski@sunnews.com, faxing your letter to 216-986-2340 or mailing it to Ray Jablonski, Sun News East Group editor, 5510 Cloverleaf Parkway, Cleveland, 44125. All letters must include the author’s name, city and a daytime phone number for verification.

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